Senegal were last night crowned champions of Africa for the first time in the competition’s history.
This was after the Lions of Teranga beat the The Pharoahs on a penalty shootout.
Senegal started the game on the front foot which saw them get a penalty in the opening minutes of the match.
Sadio Mane stepped up but his strike was saved by the impressive Abo Gabal.
Senegal who have been impressive throughout the tournament did not take the foot off the pedal as they continued pressing for an eventual goal.
It was only Gabal’s heroic saves that kept the tie at the nil nil score for the 90 minutes and extra time.
The Zamalek goalie who came in as makeshift for first choice El Shenawy proved a great wall for the Senegalese.
He made match defining saves and had the Egyptians won the title for a record 8th time, he would have been the man to take all the praise.
Chelsea’s Senegalese keeper Edouard Mendy was also impressive as he made a couple of important saves to keep Mo Salah’s Egypt at bay.
After the full 90 and extra 30 minutes, the most dreaded phase for either sides came in, the spotkicks.
Senegalese and Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly stepped as the captain should and converted the first penalty.
Egypt went on to miss two while Senegal missed one.
Mane who missed a first half penalty saw the weight and pressure of converting the eventual cup winning penalty fall on his shoulders as his Liverpool teammate Mo Salah watched on from the opposing side.
The shirt number 10 made no mistake this time round from the spot as he put it beyond Gabal’s reach.
Senegal despite being one of the powerhouses in African football had never clinched the title.
The furthest they had gone was 2002 when they lost the final to Cameroon and 2019 losing it out to Algeria.
Gabal was crowned the man of the match.
Edouard Mendy won the goalkeeper of the tournament accolade.
Cameroonian captain and striker Vincent Aboubakar won the Golden Boot with 8 goals to his name.
Manr was voted the MVP after a series of impressive performances right from the group stages.
Fan favorite and Senegal’s coach Aliou Cisse was voted as the tournament’s best coach.
Burkina Faso’s Issa Kabore was voted the best young player of the tournament.
Senegal also went ahead to clinch the Fair Play award.
